"What sets you apart from your twin brother or sister?

Besides the order of birth, of course."

Surprisingly, Elaine wasn’t dead.

“Of course I’m not. I have the divine protection of plot armor, after all.”

Though she was only half-joking, she’d never read a novel where the protagonist of an otherworld cliché had suffered a perma-death at the very beginning of their story. There were many deaths, of course, but it always came with some form of resurrection cliché; like that slime thing. But did that mean she could be reckless? Of course not. Real life was different. But she was still alive, practically unhurt even. And it wasn’t due to luck.

“Thank you for saving me.”

Mere words were not enough to describe the thing in front of her. It looked like a pile of dead bodies of all shapes and forms stacked high without any attention to pattern or organization. The only regularity apparent in the random mass of carcasses were the sharp teeth that lined the hundreds of orifices that dotted the surface like the spots on a Dalmatian. Still, she faced it with only a bit of discomfort and bowed her head in gratitude. Though it did not respond, she felt like her message had been delivered properly.

She somehow knew it did.

“Anyway, let’s go.”

With those words the creature became active; the human and beastial limbs that littered throughout its body violently contorted. The squeamish sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing echoed throughout the small chamber they were in. Normally, regular humans would find the sight of a heap of bodies rearrange themselves like a living rubick's cube horrifying. But to Elaine, it was nothing new. It wasn’t that she liked watching gore. It was just that it wasn’t the first time she saw it happen in real life.

The misshapen pile slowly became smaller. After a short while it took on a vaguely human shape and stopped.

“Here...”

Elaine picked up a tangled mass of gauze from the floor and handed one end of it to the writhing creature. It reached out one of its protrusions and upon contact the cloth launched itself towards it and rapidly encased its entire body.

Wrapped by the enchanted material, the creature further consolidated itself into the proper form of a human body; that of a shapely girl around the same height as her. Auburn hair sprouted from the top of its head and a pair of glassy eyes surfaced from its tightening skin.

“Uuuu...?”

It tilted its head. Elaine smiled wryly.

The very least Tehr could have done was to give her a normal undead. Right?

Regardless, it was thanks to her undead’s peculiarity that she was able to stay alive despite falling for god knew how many hundreds of meters down. For all she knew she might have passed the world’s crust.

She somehow couldn’t tell how much time she had spent unconscious. Ignoring the fact that she had spent what may have been an exorbitant amount of time sleeping on top of a mountain of rotting flesh, something inside that place ruined her sense of time. It was like... every second was different. The last thing she could remember was falling into darkness. And that was it.

Space seemed distorted as well, but not as much as time was, she felt.

“Might just be the dungeon.”

Or it might have been mental fatigue.

She looked up. From where she was, even with a nearby glowstone at the highest intensity she could get it on, darkness simply swallowed her sight. There was no way they would be able to climb up. If something happened and they fell, she had no assurance that her undead would be able to save her again. How did it react the way it did anyway? Maybe it was 'pre-programmed' to do so when she was in danger?

“I wonder if they’re looking for me up there?”

They should at least be worried. Both Ss’zsl and Blanc seemed genuine enough, but she had no idea if it was just her bad perception of people. What if they kept her company simply due to the thing she carried?

She grasped the locket still firmly tied around her neck. A familiar sense of coldness permeated through the metal that made its body. It came with it an unfamiliar warmth; it pulsated, comfortably, like a real heart.

Then she remembered Blanc’s eyes; blood red and possessed by one whom could take down her enemies without any effort. Yet those same eyes stared straight at her as if she was an equal.

She remembered Ss’zsl, who hung around her neck throughout the whole trip. After a while, the disgust she felt faded away, turning the feeling into a sense of security that she sorely missed now that he was gone.

The minotaur and the skeleton also came to mind. Though they were overbearing and vain, they still took the trouble to give a mere human like her the benefit of the doubt. The latter even gave her a gift that was way above her own worth.

Were all monsters of the country of monsters like that? Obviously not. Her experience at their camp made it obvious. But she was undoubtedly extremely lucky to have met them in particular.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.”

There was no use lingering. If Blanc or Ss'zsl had a way to get to her, then they would have already met if she considered the time that she might have passed unconscious.

After a while of controlling her undead, she was able to figure out that she could give it more than just one-word commands as long as she put her mind into it. She didn’t know how exactly, but she was at the point where she could order it to activate a glowstone for heat or light with just mental signals. Okay, technically that wasn’t any more complicated than getting it to walk but she felt that it was progress regardless.

Compared to the ruinous appearance of the dungeon where she was at, the dungeon where she fell to looked almost brand new. There were glowstone torches that were mounted along the smooth brick walls along one side. She remembered that one tip for spelunkers in Minecraft that placing torches to one side would help with navigating caves. Though she had no idea how it would work if she wasn’t the one who placed them herself or if it will work at all if it wasn’t centered on a certain place, it would at least be better than randomly guessing paths. The floor was made of polished stone that shone slightly from the light of the glowstones around it. The walls looked like they were made of smoothed stones stacked neatly against each other. The pillars were made from some dark material that appeared smooth like the walls but were quite abrasive to the touch. Each of them had an exquisitely-carved base, but they were so tall that they just faded into darkness around five meters into the air. That also meant that she couldn’t see the ceiling.

She was extremely uncomfortable about it. Who knew what the darkness held?

She contemplated throwing a lit glowstone up, but decided against it. If there was something there, she would rather not know. She was safe for the moment anyway.

As they walked through the rather well-lit corridors, she noticed that the temperature of the area had increased. It was probably due to the numerous glowstones around her, but from the cold floors she came from, it was a welcome change. It wasn’t enough to make her sweat; it was rather pleasant, actually.

Being with Blanc just made it colder.

She walked in silence, occasionally looking back where she came from. For a long while she didn't meet with anything unsavory. The corridor seemed to go on and on for eternity, with the occasional turn or curve at certain points.

But just as she thought that she might have been in a safe area, she was proven wrong. Right as she was about to turn a corner, she managed to stop herself and hide just as her one remaining eye spotted an abnormality.

A gigantic chimera-like monster was idling in the middle of the path. Just like myths, it had a lion’s head with a head of a goat protruding from its back. She couldn’t see its tail, but she guessed that it was a snake. It did not have wings, though, and instead three pairs of bony talons erupted from its back, each as long as its body.

It looked extremely strong. Its muscles were bulging, almost as if it wanted to burst out from its skin. Even from a distance she could see the lion’s large fangs that protruded from its mouth. The goat head had wicked horns and even had shark-like teeth.

What should she do? It was the only path available for them. Circling around it was not an option. It had two heads, possibly three, and it would definitely be able to smell her or her undead’s rot the moment they got close. Strangely though, it looked utterly distracted. Both heads stared towards the ceiling and it had its limbs spread is if ready to fight... or flee.

Could her undead beat it?

When she first saw how her zombie fought, she thought it was disgusting and abhorrent. But after witnessing it a few times she came to the conclusion that it was fairly powerful. No matter how numerous those so-called scourge crawlers were, everything that came into contact with it were eaten. Injuries didn’t make it flinch either. But she feared taking on a fight that was well above her zombie’s abilities. Without any of those ‘cheat abilities’ or skills that could determine ‘stats’, she was concerned that her zombie, despite how powerful it appeared, would be outclassed and... uhh... killed.

She remembered Blanc. If the all-powerful arachne was there, then the chimera wouldn’t have been an issue, probably. Even against the larger foes, Blanc always kept her composure and defeated them all with ease.

It was then that something familiar happened. The dungeon shook. Was it an earthquake again? But at the same time the temperature suddenly plummeted.

The chimera made a whimpering sound. She could clearly see how its legs trembled in fright for some reason. Its tail raised and surely enough, there was a snake-like head at the end of it. All three of its heads stared warily at the ceiling.

Then, several small critters ran down the corridor and passed through the chimera without attracting its attention. They looked like large rats, but had metallic fur. All of them continued running down the corridor en masse, and just as Elaine thought she would have had to fight them as well, they all passed through her, squeaking in panic all the while.

What were the monsters, even the chimera, spooked of?

Just in case, she turned her head towards her zombie and for some reason it looked like it didn’t even notice the rats that ran past them. Was it just naturally dense or something?

Oh. Right. It was a zombie.

She looked back towards the chimera. It was still distracted. After she judged that she may not have the same opportunity come her way again, she decided that it was then or never.

With a mental command, her zombie took action. It shambled towards the chimera. After going around the corner and obtaining a direct line of sight with its prey, the gauze around its body came loose, as if suddenly losing all friction. The zombie then exploded towards the chimera.

Different from the way her zombie stumbled slowly whenever they were travelling, it was extremely fast when free from its binds. It was like a tidal wave of flesh. By the time the chimera noticed, it was too late. A breath of fire wasn’t able to stop the mass of teeth and meat that barrelled down on it. Needless to say it was her zombie’s victory.

Now if only she could upgrade her zombie to not allow her prey’s screams from leaking out as it devoured it.

.

Her journey through the dungeon’s lower floors went surprisingly well. Every few minutes the dungeon would tremble and the temperature would drop a few degrees lower. After almost an hour of exploring, the dungeon had already grown cold enough that it matched the conditions of the floors above it.

“Huh? I can’t remember... is it supposed to get colder or warmer as you go down?”

‘And is it normal for temperatures to fall this fast underground’, she thought.

Whenever the dungeon shook, the dungeon monsters would always be distracted. She used those opportunities to safely defeat them. But to add to all the mysteries of that place, was the trembling normal? Back during her time with Blanc and Ss’zsl, the only time the dungeon shook was when they were in Alice’s chamber, and that was more of an earthquake than the slight trembling deeper in the dungeon. And if it was normal, why were the resident monsters always so wary and spooked by it? And was the temperature drop connected to it?

Lots of questions with no real answers to go with. Without any way to determine a reason for them, all she could do was think of that old reaction image with the caption “it’s magic, I ain’t gotta explain shit.”

After a while she was forced to stop to warm her body up. Fortunately she fell down the pit together with basically all of the equipment they had with them, and none broke from the fall. Though she felt guilty about it, since it was basically all Blanc’s things, she thought that not using them would earn the arachne’s disapproval. Besides, there was no way she would allow herself to just freeze to death.

Her zombie picked up a glowstone from the bag and clumsily struck it with an iron rod. Elaine meanwhile busied herself with the food.

She judged that the stew she still had would be enough to last her for a good long while. Blanc made quite a lot and had a habit of storing them whenever possible, just like her mother did. She had five full waterskins in total. It was probably good for three days even. But will it still be edible by then? Though the dungeon was cold, it was no refrigerator – though if the temperature kept falling it might very well become one.

A shiver crawled up her spine. It would be great if she had alcohol, she thought. And speaking of alcohol—

She made a V with her index and middle finger and placed them on her lips. Then, she inhaled.

“... Damn...”

Disappointing.

“Aaaa...”

“Oh, thanks.”

Because the dungeon floor was made of polished stone, they couldn’t bury the glowstone into it. She tried having her zombie make a hole on it using the iron rod, but right as it succeeded, the dungeon repaired itself immediately. Not only that, due to not having Ss’zsl with them, she couldn’t make use of an earthen pot. The most she could do was have the glowstone generate heat on the floor and place the waterskin with the stew above it. That meant heating up the food took longer than before. At least the stone made the ambient temperature quickly rise to the point where it was quite comfortable...

A while later, the stew gave off steam and a mouth-watering aroma permeated the air.

“Oof, that’s dangerous. Might get smelled by monsters.”

She quickly pulled the waterskin away from the stone and sealed it, preventing the scent from escaping. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth as the smell disappeared from the air. Though there might be monsters with noses as sensitive as a dog’s, it was already too late to do anything about it. She could only pray for the best.

Using Ss’zsl’s first gift to her, water containers made of woven leaves, she fashioned a bowl out of one of them and poured her meal into it. Though she could just eat from the waterskin directly, she wanted to avoid the food spoiling as much as possible.

“Mmm...”

It was still delicious. And spicy. Her body quickly warmed itself, and she felt as if she couldn’t possibly be any more comfortable given her situation. She sighed in satisfaction.

As she sat cross-legged on the ground, she quickly realized something was wrong.

“Hey, come here. Sit with me.”

“...?”

The zombie tilted its head but complied nonetheless. As a creature bound to her by Tehr in a master-servant relationship of some sort, it had no choice but to obey. It looked like it didn’t have free will anyway, being undead and all. But still it had the appearance and size of a cute young girl despite all the open wounds and bandages, so when she first saw it eat raw meat Blanc threw casually at it off the floor, she felt something had to be done.

Obviously she was just overthinking. Still, it was her undead. She could do whatever she wanted with it.

“Here. Hold this with both of your hands. Like usual.”

Since the earthen bowls Ss’zsl made were much sturdier than the leaves she used, she had to be careful about describing the task to the unwitting zombie. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the zombie put strength into its grip, slowly crumpling the bowl. She quickly corrected the situation before disaster.

“Now, slowly, raise it to your mouth and eat.”

It was a simple task which she thought even a zombie could do without incident. But then again, nothing was certain, especially with what she was dealing with. Sure enough, an incident occurred. When a piece of meat came to its mouth, the zombie bit it together with the bowl.

“... At least I don’t have to tell you to eat your veggies, huh?”

.

After their meal, Elaine felt too lazy to continue her exploration immediately. So she sat cross-legged and stared into space.

“I wonder how they’re doing.”

They were obviously doing well. Blanc could definitely handle most if not everything the dungeon could throw at her. Ss’zsl was smart and cautious. Both of them together were a force to be reckoned with. Were they looking for her?

She didn’t want to think of the possibility that they abandoned her. But it was very possible.

She grasped the locket on her neck once again. Even if they were looking for her, was it for herself or the thing she just happened to be given?

“God damn it.”

If there was one thing she wanted to do above anything else, it would be to take a bath... and watch Youtube. She suddenly realized that she was already several days behind.

“Ahhhhhhh!!! What happened to Sven?!”

She inadvertently screamed out loud, causing even her zombie to react. She quickly covered her mouth in panic. Thankfully nothing else seemed to have heard her; that or nothing cared about the ramblings of a desperate teenager.

But really, she was genuinely curious. Was rescue coming? Should she have stayed where she fell and waited? Suddenly the idea of exploring the depths of the dungeon sounded much less appealing.

“Bah, nothing I can do about it now.”

Maybe she should stop talking to herself as well. Though it was a good idea, there was no way she could stop herself from doing so at that point.

Her eye wandered around without aim. There was nothing to see around her. There were only glowstones and stone as far as the eye could see. Above, there was only all-devouring darkness. Somehow it didn’t feel threatening, though; it felt like there was just a stone ceiling above her. Hopefully that was so.

Her gaze stopped at the one thing that stood out from the scene. It was an auburn-haired young girl; a decently curvaceous one with a shapely outline. Her eyes were a mysterious dull grey and her skin, a delicate pale white with purple veins littered across it. She would have been an extremely attractive person if not for the holes on her body that revealed her innards and bones. Obviously she was dead, but the way she still moved, swaying idly while she sat on sieza, a position Elaine insisted on, denied that notion.

For the past few hours she had tried to avoid using her in fights. The way she fought was utterly unnerving and, quite frankly, disgusting. Yet Blanc insisted that she learn how to control her undead in case of an emergency, so she did. Occasionally. In the end the ‘skill’ proved useful.

In the process she gradually lost her disgust towards it. She even tried feeding it proper food in an attempt to ‘bond’ with it. But it all proved futile; despite her newfound understanding of it, it seemed to be a one-way feeling.

What did she expect, anyway? For her zombie to suddenly show her some affection? For it to say ‘thank you for the food’? It was one of the walking dead, a living corpse.

“But still...”

She stared at it again. It continued to sway, lacking any form of consciousness to keep itself steady. She sent a mental signal towards it. It then responded by looking towards her general direction. After a short while, it lost interest and continued absentmindedly swaying.

“Hmm.”

Just then, Ss’zsl’s words resurfaced in her mind.

“Names are special for us monsters. Obtaining one means we achieve ‘individuality’,” he said.

“What if...”

It was just a passing idea. She thought nothing of it. Names were nothing special in her world. People gave each other names all the time. People changed names all the time. People used fake names all the time.

So why not, she thought?

Anyone in her position would have thought the same. After all, the zombie had no name. As someone who was used to verbal communication, she felt it unusual to have nothing to call it. It wasn’t just a regular undead, after all; it was her undead.

“I know. I’ll call you Claire.”

She smiled. Her chest felt warm.

“Let’s work well together, Claire.”

—And her zombie stiffened.